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I am moving my hives in April from Washington to Oregon (about 3.5 hor trip).

They will be hauled in a trailer.

My game plan is to come home at night on day one and either in the late hours on day one or the early hours on day two, I will staple the hives bodies together and then take screen and staple it around any holes and entrances. Then we will move them by dolly.

When we get to the spot on day two, I will wait for a few hours and release the screen.

I've never bothered with a net, but it's quite easy for hives to break apart and you may wish you had one.

Be sure to pack the hives in tightly. I'd invest in a strap. Staples and a strap are much more secure.

I can never seem to get that much help, so I'd pull the trailer as close as possible and load them on a box at a time and then nail them together. (Plywood squares nailed at all four corners is actually more stable than the staples. But I've used both.) Then wait until dark to close them up.

Moving your hives when they are light before your main nectar flow is a plus. If you are going to be banging on the boxes stapleing and nailing on screen, do all except the entrance in advance. I just shove hardware cloth or screen in the entrance. Take extra empty boxes off the hives in advance and strap only what you need to. If you have frame feeders, make sure they are empty. I second the motion on straping the hives. Strap the heck out of them. Trailers bounce more than many people realise so make sure the hives are well secured (straped)to the trailer bed. Since some of your trip may take part during daylight, I recommend a screen and net. If you do use a net, Walmart/Home Depot has some garden shade stuff 6 ft wide that might work for you. If I use an entrance screen, I remove the screen right before I leave the yard. Bees are defensive but it makes for an exciting run back to the truck. Smoke is my friend. Good duct tape works for temporay hole covering. Bring extra duct tape for those leaks that you may have missed. When working bees at night bees crawl and find every little hole to crawl into and sting. Protect yourself well. A sprayer of soap and water may not be bad insurance in case you have an accident. Keep your protection equipment with you and start the move well rested. Remember to put your hives where you want them so you don't have to move them later and stress yourself and the bees. Hope this helps, good luck.
Bob Allen

I'd open up the hives the very moment that they
are all in place. No reason to keep the bees
cooped up any longer than one must.

In stapling, the trick is to nail them on
at an angle, so that each staple "leans" towards
the center of the hive, like this: /........\

Or, for the obsessively contrary, one can
"lean" the staples outward, like \......../

Either way, the roughly 45-degree angle is
what prevents the boxes from sliding relative
to each other. It should be noted that the
staples should NEVER look like /........./
or \........\ , or |.........| , as all these
configurations will allow movement.

(Byte for byte, ASCII art is your best
entertainment value, so there will be no 1.5
MB photos of the staples.)

But ratchet straps are much easier to use,
and not at all expensive. Do not try to use
the straps without the ratchets, as they
tend to slip. Do not buy any straps at Mall-Wart,
as those will disintegrate upon exposure to the
sun in a month or two. (Cheap webbing)

I strap around the entire hive, from below the
bottom board over the top of the cover, which
is easy to do when your hives all sit on cinder
blocks.

We then place the hives on the truck bed, and
ratchet strap across the tops of the hives to
hold them in place and prevent load-shifting.

If a small number of hives are to be moved, I
fold down the back seat in a Volvo wagon, and
strap the hives to the metal cargo strap hooks
that Volvo was nice enough to include in their
240 and 760 series wagons. One can fit 4 to 6
hives and two beekeepers into a 1980s through
1990s Volvo wagon, but the newer models appear
to have much smaller cargo bays. Of course, if
you paid for one of the newer ones, you might
hesitate to use it in beekeeping, given the price
tags on the new models ($40K and up!!).

Hey Chef Isaac, I am interested in your deal with your mentor. $70.00 sounds good to me if everything is standard size (maybe I aughta buy the hives you plan on moving). I'm over here on Whidbey Island so I might be close to you. I thought you were in Seattle. OldScout

If you haul them "in" a trailer you could get in trouble. Better to move them on a trailer with some airflow.

Screening could be okay, but likely not needed. Just make sure you do not need to urinate for your 3.5 hour trip at a very public place.

If worried about having to stop, I would buy a screened hive closure for the entrance (you could make something similar) and just duct tape large holes.

No net. If not in a pickup bed, secure them to the trailer. Do not work your bees for a few days prior, this will allow them to have the frames inside all steady with bee glue. God save the queen! Staple them in advance, don't get them worked up that day. Open them up right away.

Cheif; load the so the frames are in the same direction as the length of the veichle,ie. =- the equal sigh representing the car and the minus sign represents the frames that way they won't tend to rock quit as much and less mashing. [img]smile.gif[/img] When I transport mine I've made a spacer frame that just fits into the gap on one side of the box, to elemate any movement side to side.

\"ONLY WHEN THE LAST RIVER HAS BEEN DRIED UP<br />THE LAST TREE BEEN CUT DOWN<br />THE LAST WILD FISH CAUGHT<br />WILL MAN REALIZE YOU CAN\'T EAT MONEY\"<br />GHANDI (?)

Chef, How many hives do you plan to relocate?
What will be the # of boxes stacked on bottom board? To minimize disturbance to hives use 3" long strips of metal plumbers strap set at angle with 1" dry wall screws as indicated in above post. Use battery operated drill motor or battery operated screw driver. The long staples were good when we started using them for transporting hives but the strap and screws go in faster and don't disturb the bees. Also this I believe is your first extended move and you might staple window sreen down on the top rim of the top box under the lids just in case you get caught in the day time in rising temps. you can pull the tops off.

If it's hot out, its nice to have just the window screen on the top with no inner or outer cover. If it's not hot, a screen on the entrance and some screen on the inner cover with no outer cover is probably good enough. Screened doors are nice. Brushy Mt. sells them for moving hives. But again, they only make a big difference on hot day.

Be sure the inner cover or the screen wire is nailed or stapled on well enough so it doesn't blow off.

Maybe it's easier to make a list of things that can go wrong. [img]smile.gif[/img]

The hive can slip while your loading and fall off of the dolly. EXCITEMENT! Be careful! Wear a suit or at least a veil even though you think it's closed up.

The hive parts can slip just enough that a bee can get out. But if a bee can get out, so can the rest of them. This could happen while loading or while hauling. So you could lose bees as you drive down the road and you could cause a bit of excitment when you stop. Close it up as well as you can. Don't count on it staying that way.

The hive can tip over in the trailer. It needs to have boxes or something solid around it so it can't.

The bees can die from heat if it's hot out and you have them too well closed off. (hence the screened entrance and screened top).

Bumpy roads can break combs (worse on a hot day or a rough road) and the inside can be a sticky mess of honey and drowned bees. Drive carefully. Drive like you have a cup of hot coffee between your legs and you don't want to spill it. Try to avoid really hot days.

Frames swinging in the hive can crush bees. Usually if you haven't worked the hive lately the proplis will have them glued well enough this won't be a problem. Putting the hive with the frames running the length of the trailer will help some. Usually the start and stop forces are stronger than the right and left, but not necesarily. Again driving carefully will help.

All of the advice people are giving you are ways to try to avoid these problems.

Chef, You might check with Oregon Department of
Agriculture on the post above by [nw bee] about
netting transpored hives across border into Oregon. Maybe screens will meet requirement.
If hives will be trailered what about jack and spair tire? When I transport a number of hives I try to be prepaired for the unexpected.
Walt

When I transport I pull the trays out of the SBB for ventilation and duct tape the entrances closed. I also have a few cut-offs from cutting down some deeps into mediums with screen on one side that I will place on top of the hive when it is really hot. I use ratchet straps to hold them together, and unlike SilverFox, I load them PERPENDICULAR to the road. I don't start and stop quickly so the frames don't sway that much. I usually travel some rough ground and my vehicle and trailor will pitch side to side MUCH more than fore and aft. This is more important when using PC as they don't have the spacer bars on the side of the frame to help hold them apart like wood does. Once they are propolized to the box it doesn't matter much.